How to return spin serve?

Dear Coach:

Recently, we were playing a tournment.  I was playing doubles with my partner who is a very good player.   During one of our games, one of my opponent was serving with lot of topspin.  I had horrible time picking up his serve.  I was just trying to put the ball inside the table, but the ball kept flying out of the table.  I was not able to return even one of his serves.  In the end, we won the match, but still I felt my angle of the bat while picking up his serve is not correct.  The extra top spin carries the ball away from the table in a different direction.  

Kindly give me some valuable tips on how to deal with spin serves?

Regards,
Ram

Hi Ram,

The key is to use the angle of your bat to counter where the ball is going.  So if you find that you are hitting the ball too high then you need to angle your bat down more.  If it is going to the side then angle it the other way and so on. Don't try to do too much to start with, just get the direction correct.

We have a DVD available on our site which will give you a really comprehensive guide on returning serves including showing you how to recognise different spins.  You can purchase our Receiving Secrets Revealed DVD for some more help.